Testimony of Healing August 26, 1911 Issue

It is with the deepest joy, and with gratitude to God...

Madeline Mackintosh with contributions from John C. T. Mackintosh

It is with the deepest joy, and with gratitude to God, that I feel called to relate my first experience in Christian Science. It was in January, 1907, that my son, aged thirteen years, was healed by omnipotent, ever-present Love of what materia medica called an incurable heart disease and anemia in its worst form. His attendance at school had been broken for months, on account of his ill health. In the second week of October, 1906, he had been sent home from school ill. I was not then a Christian Scientist, and had no knowledge whatever of its teaching, consequently a doctor was called in, the best and most honored for medical skill in a wide district, and after a long and careful examination the above was his verdict. In addition, I was informed that my son would be subject to these breakdowns all his life; that he must not cycle to school any more, nor join in boys' sports save in a very mild way.

The outlook was rendered the more gloomy through my having lost my husband very suddenly five years before and chiefly from the same supposed cause. My husband's brother and father were afflicted in the same way and had been an anxiety to the mother and sisters for many years. I had four children, and this was the eldest. So heavy was my heart that only a widowed mother in like circumstances could know how I felt. For comfort our rector said, "It is a very heavy cross you have to bear," and when I turned to my late husband's relatives they mournfully informed me that it was a hereditary affliction. My boy had then been in the hands of the doctor three months, with no sign of improvement. During the last few weeks I had been hungrily absorbing "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, brought to my notice by a very dear friend in Scotland. I read the book night after night, far into the morning hours; and gradually into my consciousness came the joy of hope through the dawning knowledge of the ever-present Christ-power to heal.

In the middle of January, 1907, on a never-to-be-forgotten night, as I sat in thought, the last remnant of the veil of fear and doubt was lifted, and I felt "all glorious within," filled with the radiance of Truth. I saw that God's promises and the words of Christ Jesus were not intended for that age and those peoples only, but for all who grasp the pure sense of the Master's teaching in all time. So now and here God could and was ready to heal my son! From that night he mended so rapidly that by the next week he had started in a new school, cycling ten miles daily instead of eight as before. He still attends this school, and has cycled the ten miles daily during the whole of these past three years. He has also entered heartily into all the school sports, is an enthusiastic cricketer, and has a hockey team of his own. Last February he joined the school paperchasing game, running fifteen miles, and was the first to return to the starting-place. He then changed his clothes and cycled back to bring in one who had broken down. He experienced no ill effect whatever from his exertions. In July, 1909, before a certain bond could be signed, admitting him to student teachership, he had to conform to the law and undergo a rigorous medical examination at a scholastic office, as to fitness; and though the authorities had the facts of his former illness before them in writing, yet he passed as thoroughly healthy and fit.

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